Floundering Blue Jays pounded by Cleveland in four-game sweep

In perhaps one of the worst series in franchise history, the hapless Blue Jays were swept out of Cleveland Sunday after getting destroyed in four games against the swift and agile Clevelanders.

Having scored just six runs in the set, the Blue Jays struck out a total of 57 times. The team also managed just 19 hits, struggling terribly against Mike Clevinger, Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco, and Shane Bieber.

Still, let us take a look at the good, the bad, and the weird from this weekend’s mercilessly frightful series at Progressive Field:

Unsurprisingly, not much went well for the Blue Jays in this series. Still, there were at least a few members of the squad who put up respectable numbers.

Ken Giles (1.0 IP, SO, 0 ER), Tim Mayza (2.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 SO), Marcus Stroman (6.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 SO), and Trent Thornton (5.2 IP, 7 SO, 2 ER) continued their solid seasons on the bump, while relievers Javy Guerra (2.1 IP, 0 ER, 3 SO) and Sam Gaviglio (2.2 IP, 3 SO, 0 ER) put up some zeroes out of the bullpen.

Of course, there was also the quietly solid outing by Aaron Sanchez, who tossed six innings, allowing two runs on five hits, striking out five. As of this writing, his ERA sits at a cool 1.64 after two starts.

Perhaps the only Blue Jays hitter with a passable series was Freddy Galvis, who went 4-for-13 with a double, two home runs, and three RBI. Currently, he’s slashing .304/.385/.739.

Most of the team’s offense, namely Sócrates Brito (0-for-10, 5 SO), Billy McKinney (3-for-11, 5 SO), Brandon Drury (1-for-14, 9 SO), Danny Jansen (2-for-10, 4 SO, RBI), Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (0-for-8, 2 SO), and Randal Grichuk (1-for-16, 8 SO, 2B, RBI) were dreadful, striking out at an almost inhuman pace.

According to both Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com and Keegan Matheson of Baseball Toronto, the Blue Jays have been struck out 13 or more times in four straight games, becoming only the fourth team in baseball history to accomplish that rather awful feat.

On the mound, Thomas Pannone (2.2 IP, 6 SO, 4 ER, 2 BB), Elvis Luciano (1.2 IP, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO), and Joe Biagini (0.1 IP, 1 ER) stumbled, while Daniel Hudson (1.1 IP, 3 ER, SO, BB) also fared horribly. Hudson’s ERA is currently 11.57 in 4.1 innings pitched.

Super-utilityman Alen Hanson, who last year tallied 10 or more games at four different positions, appeared at first base for the first time in his professional career during the eighth inning of Sunday’s finale.

Elsewhere on the diamond, Richard Ureña continued to populate the hit column, going 1-for-5 and adding a walk to bring his OPS to a palatable .697, while Justin Smoak missed three out of the four games with neck stiffness.

Shockingly, there is a team more disappointing than the Blue Jays so far this season, and, luckily for the boys in blue, they’ll be facing them in a mid-week two-game series on the road, starting Tuesday.

The Boston Red Sox, who have played to a stunningly low record of 2-8 so far this season, will host the Blue Jays at Fenway Park for a short (but hopefully sweet) two-game series. In Game 1, Chris Sale toes the rubber against Matt Shoemaker.